Amarillo TX and Palo Duro Canyon State Park

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October 22nd 2017

Published: October 22nd 2017

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Karen and Kathy

Wind turbines

On Friday, we continued westward through OK under bright blue skies and wind whipped clouds. Made a pit stop in Yukon OK, home of Garth Brooks ?free tire check at Discount Tire - Mike, who moved here from MI, was super nice and friendly!

Crazy ? strong winds - 2 hands on the steering wheel driving along wide open fields with huge wind turbines everywhere...quite a site to see.

Road sign: Hitchhikers may be escaping inmates ?

Alrighty then....we will not be stopping to pickup any hitchhikers!

Welcome to Texas - The Lone ⭐️ State

Rest areas are huge and look awesome...guess everything is BIGGER in Texas ?

Checkout the Texas Longhorn! They are HUGE...

You can see for miles...75 mph highways surrounded by farmland, ? ranches, ?, cotton fields, ?.

We planned to camp in the canyon, however, no tent ⛺️ sites were available (learned camp sites fill up on weekends and you have to make reservations in advance; good to know moving forward...). So, we decided to rough it at an Embassy Suites ?in downtown Amarillo TX, which is only ~30 minute drive to the canyon.

That evening we explored

Texas Longhorn

the Historic Route 66 District of Amarillo...shared a great meal at Braceros Mexican Grill & Cantina - grilled red snapper with a spicy ? mushroom sauce, beans, rice and salad. Yum yum! One of the best meals we have ever had ?

Saturday was another picture perfect day....sunny blue skies ~80 degrees. We explored Palo Duro Canyon State Park - one of the best treasures of the Texas panhandle and the second largest Canyon in North America. Check it out online sometime...we had an awesome 6 mile hike to the Lighthouse. Spectacular views and hike ?...saw our first live tarantula ?and met a couple who had just moved to Lubbock TX. She was from the Outer Banks in NC...small ? We were covered in dirt and dust from head to toe, but it was so worth it! Worked out perfectly that we were staying in a hotel...more extra long hot showers ?, plush robes and slippers, room service, and La La Land on HBO ☺️☺️

This morning we had an opportunity to catch up with mom/dad Madden, get an upper body workout in the gym, and enjoy a cooked to order breakfast. We have already visited Austin, Dallas,

Route 66 TX

San Antonio and the Alamo, so we are mov'n on to New Mexico - The Land of Enchantment. Plan is to stop at Standard Diner in Albuquerque - from an episode of Guy Fieri's Diners Drive Ins and Dives, in honor of Karen's sister Jennifer & Jason ??

This road trip has been so much fun...even more so being able to blog and know that many of our friends and family are following us. We enjoy and appreciate hearing from you...seems like we are on this journey together ?

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